Classical
Simon Dow Dip. ABS
Simon Dow, a graduate of The Australian Ballet School, has had an extensive career dancing with the Stuttgart Ballet, and later as a principal with The Australian Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet and Washington Ballet. Mr Dow has been invited to perform as an international guest artist in many of the great opera houses and international festivals. He has danced all the major principal classical roles including Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, James in La Sylphide, Franz in Coppélia, Prince Desire in The Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker and the Poet in Les Sylphides, as well as leading roles in classical and contemporary works by Cranko, Bèjart, Ashton, MacMillan, Fokine, Kylian, Balanchine, Tetley, Forsythe, Helpmann, Goh, Kudelka, and Bintley amongst others.
Mr Dow has created over 40 original works as a choreographer. His work has been performed by the Milwaukee Ballet, the Washington Ballet, West Australian Ballet, at the USA International Ballet Competition, Ballet Manhattan in New York and on tour in Europe, at the Joyce Soho in New York, Theaterhaus in Stuttgart, Theatre Artaud and Dancer’s Studio in San Francisco, the Florentine Opera, Milwaukee Ballet Youth Company, Steps Beyond in New York, Boston Ballet workshop, Cincinnati Dance Place, St Mark’s Church in New York and many others. Following the success of his full- length La Bohème ballet in 2004 which toured throughout Australia and to China (including to the Shanghai International Arts Festival, to Beijing, Hangzhou, Nanjing and to the Bangkok Festival of Music and Dance in Thailand) Mr Dow created the evening length work Dangerous Liaisons. This was nominated for Best Choreography at the West Australian Dance Awards, followed by Cinderella in 2005, The Red Shoes in 2006 and Alice in 2007.
Mr Dow’s work as a master teacher of ballet is internationally known and he has taught for American Ballet Theatre, William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, The Australian Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Washington Ballet, Boston Ballet, Feld Ballet NY, Steps Studios, David Howard Studios, Danspace, and Peridance in New York, among others, as well as at numerous festivals including the Internationale Tanz Wochen in Vienna and throughout Japan. Mr Dow has coached dancers from around the world. In 2001 he was invited to join the dance and choreographic juries for the 4th International Ballet Competition in Helsinki. Among his awards are the Best Partner Award at the 1981 Moscow International Ballet Competition, the Cecchetti Medal and an Achievement in the Arts award presented by former US President Ronald Reagan.
Mr Dow is listed in Who’s Who in Australia and Who’s Who in America. Previously he has been Associate Artistic Director for the Washington Ballet and Artistic Director for the Milwaukee Ballet from 1999 to 2002, and West Australian Ballet from 2003 to 2007. Between 2004-2006 he was a member of the Dance Board of the Australia Council for the Arts, and was on the Board Committee for Ausdance WA during 2003-2006. He served on the Board of The Graduate College of Dance, directed by Dawn Weller, from 2004-2006 and is a patron for the Australian Institute of Classical Dance. Mr Dow is also an honorary member of Cecchetti Dance Australia. In 2006, he was an international juror at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, and in 2008 was a member of the international jury for the South African International Ballet Competition. Mr Dow currently teaches as a guest master teacher and is a freelance choreographer and artist.
